‘I did not break the law,’ former Ohio GOP chief says
COLUMBUS – Former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges says he never bribed anyone, and his role in the nuclear bailout scandal has been overstated dramatically.
“I did not break the law,” Borges told The Enquirer. “I did not conspire to break the law. I did not intend to break the law. I was not aware of anyone else breaking the law if it was happening.”
Borges and four others, including former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, were arrested July 21 and later indicted with racketeering in connection with an alleged conspiracy to help Householder gain control of the House of Representatives, pass a law to subsidize nuclear plants in northern Ohio and defend that law against a ballot effort to upend it.
Borges said he had no role in helping Householder come to power and played little part in passing House Bill 6. He was registered as a lobbyist for Firstenergy Solutions, which owned two nuclear plants that stood to benefit from the bill, but didn’t talk with lawmakers about the legislation, he said.
Borges’ primary focus was blocking the ballot referendum that would have killed about $1 billion in subsidies to Firstenergy Solutions, now called Energy Harbor.
That included organizing a legal team for an Ohio Supreme Court challenge – they argued the fee was a tax – and pointing out problems with signatures the House Bill 6 opponents gathered, he said. (They ultimately didn’t gather enough signatures for that to matter.)
Borges also tipped off Firstenergy Solutions lobbyist Juan Cespedes that opponents of House Bill 6 would pursue a referendum to block it on the ballot, according to the 81-page federal complaint.
The federal complaint accuses Borges of bribing an employee of the antiHouse Bill 6 ballot initiative effort, later revealed as Columbus political consultant Tyler Fehrman, “to provide inside information about the ballot campaign such as number of signatures collected, the number of collectors and geographic focus of collection efforts.”
In September 2019, Borges contacted Fehrman and, during a meeting the next day, offered money, a job or payment of Fehrman’s debts in exchange for information about the ballot effort, according to the federal complaint.
Fehrman later replied: “It may not land me in the car, house, job, or financial situation I want to be in – but I couldn’t face myself if I did anything but work for this and do it honestly.”
Borges told The Enquirer Fehrman reached out to him, not the other way around.
“I certainly never bribed him or anyone,” Borges said. “He had come to me many times before needing help.”
Fehrman said he could not comment on details of the case.
On Monday, Borges’ attorney filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit that Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost brought against those named in the federal investigation.
The lawsuit sought to block Energy Harbor from receiving fees on Ohioans’ electric bills and punish those involved in the alleged bribery scheme. That included banning people like Borges and others from lobbying or participating in a campaign for eight years.
Borges, in the motion, says Yost doesn’t have evidence that Borges committed a crime. Neither Borges nor
Fehrman was a public or party official, which would be required to prove bribery occurred; even if the payment was inappropriate, it was not something that needed to be reported.
The motion also argues that $1.62 million that Borges’ consulting group, 17 Consulting, received was not the proceeds of “unlawful or corrupt activity” and it did not need to be reported under Ohio campaign finance laws.
Borges has another theory on why Yost filed the lawsuit: to save face.
“The attorney general’s desire to publicly distance himself from this legislation, and the subsequent issues it has created for him, is not a sufficient reason to file a lawsuit that he has no standing to bring, that fails to state any cognizable injury to the state of Ohio, makes spurious allegations against various defendants that have no basis in fact or law, and was clearly intended to generate news coverage, but accomplishes nothing more,” Borges’ attorney Karl Schneider wrote in the motion to dismiss.
Yost, in a statement, said Borges left out details, including that the bribe was recorded on an FBI wire, two “co-conspirators” have confessed and “the trail of financial breadcrumbs” leads to Borges’ checkbook.
“Attacking law enforcement is the oldest – least effective trick – in the criminal defense playbook,” Yost said. “We’ll see him in court.”
Borges has known Yost for years and advised his 2018 campaign for attorney general.
“He felt like he needed to cover his butt,” said Borges, adding Yost did the same with charter school Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow. “I believe Dave Yost is a good person. He has a blind spot when it comes to chasing headlines.”